Death of Quawan Charles

Quawan “Bobby” Charles, 15, reported missing October 30, 2020 in Baldwin, Louisiana; found dead November 3, 2020 in a sugarcane field in Iberia Parish. A preliminary autopsy report obtained by NBC News listed the cause of death as “likely drowning.” In a statement on Saturday, November 14, 2020 (NBC, November 15), the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office said: “we immediately began treating this as a homicide investigation at the very moment we found Quawan ‘Bobby’ Charles.” No Amber Alert was issued; family publicly invoked Emmett Till and criticized the slowness of the initial police response. Case remains unresolved.

Corrected 2026-07-29 (approval-brief round 5 + receipt-gate). This record previously claimed the family was “also represented by Ben Crump” — false, and contradicted by both of this record’s own cited sources. NBC News names “Ronald Haley Jr.” as “a lawyer for Charles’ family”; Wikipedia’s “Death of Quawan Charles” entry names “Ron Haley” as “one of three civil rights attorneys representing Charles’s family.” Neither source mentions Crump anywhere. Do not attribute this case’s representation to Crump; it is Ron Haley Jr.

Corrected 2026-10-01. This record said the “Preliminary finding leaned toward accidental drowning.” The preliminary autopsy report gives a cause, “likely drowning,” not a manner, and NBC does not say who wrote it; the sheriff’s office says the death was treated as a homicide from the start.